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To examine the effects of risk on infant development within cultural
contexts, 141 dual-earner Israeli and Palestinian couples and their
first-born child were observed at 5 months and again at 34 months. Eight
ecological determinants were examined as potential risk factors, including
the infant's observed and parent-reported difficult temperament; the
mother's depressive symptoms, work–family interference, and
experience of childbirth; the parents' marital satisfaction and
social support; and observed maternal and paternal sensitivity. Symbolic
play and behavior problems were assessed at 34 months. Culture-specific
effects of risk and protective factors were found. Parent sensitivity
facilitated symbolic competence to a greater extent in the Israeli group.
Culture moderated the effects of maternal depression and family social
support on toddlers' behavior problems. Maternal depressive symptoms
had a negative impact on the behavior adaptation of Israeli children and
social support buffered against behavior problems in the Arab group.
Implications for research on risk and resilience and the role of culture
in moderating the effects of ecological risk are discussed.The Israeli–Palestinian Project was
supported by the New-Land Foundation. The study is dedicated to the memory
of the late professor Donald Cohen, MD, whose vision and support enabled
this project.

Individual, dyadic, and triadic influences on the development of the
family system were examined in the context of developmental risk.
Participants were 145 couples and their 4-month-old first-born child in
six groups: controls, three mother-risk groups (depressed, anxious,
comorbid), and two infant-risk groups (preterm, intrauterine growth
retardation). Dyadic and triadic interactions were observed. Differences
in parent–infant reciprocity and intrusiveness were found, with
mother-risk groups scoring less optimally than controls and infant-risk
groups scoring the poorest. Similar results emerged for family-level
cohesion and rigidity. Structural modeling indicated that father
involvement had an influence on the individual level, by reducing maternal
distress, as well as on the triadic level, by increasing family cohesion.
Maternal emotional distress affected the reciprocity component of early
dyadic and triadic relationships, whereas infant negative emotionality
impacted on the intrusive element of parenting and family-level
relationships. Discussion considered the multiple and pattern-specific
influences on the family system as it is shaped by maternal and child risk
conditions.This study was supported by the
Israeli Science Foundation (No. 01/945) and the March of Dimes
Foundation (12-FY04-50).

The interrelations of maternal attachment representations,
mother–infant interaction in the home, and attachment relationships
were studied in 99 adolescent mothers and their 12-month-old infants. A
q-factor analysis was used to identify emergent profiles of mother and
infant interaction. Traditional multivariate statistical analyses were
complemented by a relationship-based approach utilizing latent class
analysis. The results confirmed many theoretical predictions linking
interaction with autonomous maternal representations and secure
attachment, but failed to support a mediating role for maternal
sensitivity. Strong associations were found between mothers displaying
nonsensitive and disengaged interaction profiles, infants who did not
interact harmoniously with the mother and preferred interaction with the
visitor, unresolved maternal representations, and disorganized attachment
relationships. Moreover, maternal nonsensitive and disengaged interaction
in the home mediated the association between unresolved representations
and disorganization. The results of the latent class analysis were
consistent with these findings and revealed additional, empirically
derived associations between attachment classifications and patterns of
interactive behavior, some of which prompt a reconsideration of our
current understanding of attachment transmission in at-risk
populations.This research was supported by
a predoctoral fellowship to the first author from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council and by research grants to the second and third
authors from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the
Ontario Mental Health Foundation, and Health Canada.

A history of research on gene–environment interaction (G × E) is provided in this article, revealing the fact that there have actually been two distinct concepts of G × E since the very origins of this research. R. A. Fisher introduced what I call the biometric concept of G × E (G × EB), whereas Lancelot Hogben introduced what I call the developmental concept of G × E (G × ED). Much of the subsequent history of research on G × E has largely consisted of the separate legacies of these separate concepts, along with the (sometimes acrimonious) disputes that have arisen time and again when employers of each have argued over the appropriate way to conceptualize the phenomenon. With this history in place, more recent attempts to distinguish between different concepts of G × E are considered, paying particular attention to the commonly made distinction between “statistical interaction” and “interactionism,” and Michael Rutter's distinction between statistical interaction and “the biological concept of interaction.” I argue that the history of the separate legacies of G × EB and G × ED better supports Rutter's analysis of the situation and that this analysis best paves the way for an integrative relationship between the various scientists investigating the place of G × E in the etiology of complex traits.

Although neurodevelopmental impairment is a risk factor for poor cognitive and behavioral outcomes, associations between early and later functioning are only moderate in magnitude, and it is likely that other factors intervene to modify this trajectory. The current study tested the hypothesis that sensitive, stimulating caregiving would promote positive behavioral and cognitive outcomes among children who were at risk based on the results of a neurodevelopmental screener and a temperament inventory. The sample comprised 1,720 infants and toddlers from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a longitudinal study of children who were involved with child welfare services. Children were first assessed between 3 and 24 months of age and subsequently 18 months later. Children who experienced improvements in the amount of sensitive, stimulating caregiving they received had positive cognitive and behavioral outcomes 18 months later, despite early levels of neurodevelopmental risk. The association between changes in caregiving quality and changes in children's functioning was stronger for children who were removed from the care of their biological parents before the follow-up assessment than for children who remained in the care of biological parents, suggesting a causal role for caregiving quality on children's outcomes.

Autistic adults display enhanced and locally oriented low-level
perception of static visual information, but diminished perception of some
types of movement. The identification of potential precursors, such as
atypical perceptual processing, among very young children would be an
initial step toward understanding the development of these phenomena. The
purpose of this study was to provide an initial measure and interpretation
of atypical visual exploratory behaviors toward inanimate objects
(AVEBIOs) among young children with autism. A coding system for AVEBIOs
was constructed from a corpus of 40 semistandardized assessments of
autistic children. The most frequent atypical visual behavior among 15
children aged 33–73 months was lateral glance that was
mostly oriented toward moving stimuli and was detected reliably by the
experimenters (intraclass correlation > .90). This behavior was more
common among autistic than typically developing children of similar verbal
mental age and chronological age. As lateral vision is associated with the
filtering of high spatial frequency (detail perception) information and
the facilitation of high temporal frequencies (movement perception), its
high prevalence among very young autistic children may reflect early
attempts to regulate and/or optimize both excessive amounts of local
information and diminished perception of movement. These findings are
initial evidence for the need to consider the neural bases and development
of atypical behaviors and their implications for intervention
strategies.

Human studies have suggested an association between a variable length polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene promoter region and vulnerability to anxiety and depression. Relative to the long (l) allele, the short (s) allele increases the risk of developing depression in individuals exposed to stressful life events. An orthologue of the human variant is present in rhesus macaques and allows for studies in animals exposed to stress. Here, we used an established model of early life stress exposure, in which rhesus macaques are raised without adults in a group of peers (peer-only reared [PR]), or with their mothers. At 6 months of age, animals were subjected to 4-day long social separations for 4 consecutive weeks, with 3 days of reunion in between. Data were collected during both the acute (Day 1) and chronic phases (Days 2–4) of separation. Behavioral factors were separately extracted for each phase of separation. For acute separation, the behavioral factors generated were despair and behavioral pathology and, for the chronic phase despair, agitation, and behavioral pathology. During both phases of social separation, PR l/s animals were more likely to exhibit pathological behaviors, whereas PR l/l monkeys show higher levels of despair compared to the other three groups. These findings indicate that early stress affects the behavioral response to separation differently as a function of recombinant human serotonin transporter linked polymorphic repeat genotype and suggest that carriers of the s allele are not only more anxious but may also be more vulnerable to developing behavioral pathology in the face of chronic adversity.

Developmental psychopathology theory speaks to the existence of
early-manifesting internalizing problems with a heterogeneous longitudinal
course. However, the course of internalizing problems has been
investigated largely from late childhood onward, with methods that assume
children's problem trajectories vary more so in rate than in
qualitative functional form. This can obscure heterogeneity in symptom
process and course, obscure onset of early gender differences in
internalizing problems, and obscure the relevance of early sociocontextual
risks for long-term internalizing outcomes. The present study addressed
these issues by using person-oriented (latent growth mixture) methods to
model heterogeneity in maternal-reported internalizing symptoms from age 2
to 11 years (N = 1,364). Three latent trajectory classes were
supported for each gender: two-thirds of children followed a low-stable
trajectory; smaller proportions followed decreasing/increasing or
elevated-stable trajectories. Although the number, shape, and predictive
validity of internalizing trajectory classes were similar across gender,
trajectory classes' initial values and rates of change varied
significantly across gender, as did the impact of maternal postpartum
depression and anxiety on latent growth factors. Extracted latent
trajectories were differentially predicted by postpartum maternal
psychopathology, and themselves, in several respects, differentially
predicted self-reported depressive symptoms in preadolescence. However,
discussion focuses on the need for further external validation of
extracted latent classes.The authors thank
Daniel J. Bauer for his insightful comments on earlier versions of this
manuscript.

A person-oriented approach was adopted to examine joint developmental
trajectories of physical and indirect aggression. Participants were 1183
children aged 2 years at the initial assessment and followed over 6 years.
Most children followed either low or declining trajectories of physical
aggression (PA), but 14.6% followed high stable trajectories.
Approximately two-thirds of participants followed low indirect aggression
(IA) trajectories (67.9%), and one-third (32.1%) followed high rising
trajectories. The results combining both PA and IA group memberships
indicate that most children (62.1%) exhibit desisting levels of PA and low
levels of IA. A significant proportion followed a trajectory of moderately
desisting PA and rising IA (14.2%), and 13.5% followed high level
trajectories of both forms of aggression. Virtually no children were high
on one type and low on the other. Multinomial regressions analyses were
used to predict joint trajectory group membership from selected child and
family variables measured at 2 years. Young motherhood and low income
predicted membership in the high PA-high IA trajectory, but only hostile
parenting remained significant after family processes variables were
entered in the model. Being a boy, young motherhood, and hostile parenting
were generally associated with higher levels of PA. Girls were more likely
than boys to follow a trajectory of desisting PA and rising IA. The
results suggest that some children, mostly girls, reduce their use of PA
and tend to increase their use of IA, and that highly physically
aggressive children also tend to be highly indirectly aggressive. Early
family risk characteristics and hostile parenting interfere with the
socialization of aggression.This research
was supported by research grants from Quebec's FQRSC and CIQSS,
Canada's CIHR and SSHRC, the Canadian Institute for Advanced
Research, the Molson foundation, St-Justine Hospital's Research
Center, and the University of Montréal. We thank Danielle Forest
(University of Montréal) for her work on data analysis and Franck
Larouche (Statistics Canada) for his sustained commitment to assist us in
managing the data.

Studies have investigated the potential effects of prenatal cocaine exposure (CE) on children's development. However, few studies have examined predictors of resilient outcomes in this population. We examined vagal tone (VT) as a resilience factor in prenatal CE. Utilizing data from the Maternal Lifestyle Study, a cumulative risk index was derived for children with and without prenatal CE. Presence of CE and other prenatal drugs was summed with postnatal risks in infancy to yield a 15-item risk index. Preschool cognitive outcomes, problem behaviors, and adaptive behaviors were measured. VT was assessed during an infant exam at 1 month and toy exploration at 36 months. We included children with complete physiologic data (217 CE, 333 non-CE). Children were classified as having consistently high, consistently low, or fluctuating VT at 1 and 36 months. Children were also classified as high versus low risk. High-risk children had lower IQ scores, more problem behaviors, and lower ratings of adaptive behaviors than low-risk children. A significant risk by VT–stability interaction indicated that for high-risk children, those with stable low VT had higher ratings of adaptive behaviors at 36 months. This is consistent with theory linking reduced VT during tasks to adaptive regulation and indicates that such regulatory functioning may serve as a protective factor in prenatal CE.

Ninety-four low- and middle-income preschoolers (48 boys, 46 girls)
were recruited from two sites in a large southwestern city.
Children's positive attributions of peer intent, social
problem-solving decisions, and attributions of peers' feelings about
the provocation were evaluated from individual interviews. In addition,
children's anger perception accuracy and their global emotion
situation knowledge were assessed. Teachers and their assistants reported
on the children's social competence, internalizing and externalizing
behavior, and the degree to which children were physically and
relationally victimized. Social competence was a negative predictor of
relational and physical victimization, and externalizing behavior was a
positive predictor of both types of victimization. Anger perception
accuracy was negatively related to physical victimization, and global
emotion situation knowledge and attributions of sorrow to provoking peers
were positive predictors. Results support a conceptual framework that
emphasizes the importance of social and emotion-related social cognitive
variables for understanding young children's peer-related
victimization.The authors thank the
children and families for their participation and the preschool teachers
for their cooperation. Thanks are also due to the many undergraduate and
graduate students who helped with this research. Special thanks to
Kimberly Estep and Courtney Hunter for their help with data collection and
coding.

The study of gene–environment interaction (G × E) constitutes an area of significant social and clinical significance. Different types of research study designs are being used to investigate the contribution of G × E to psychopathology, although the term G × E has also been used and interpreted in different ways. Despite mixed evidence that G × E contributes to psychopathology, some promising and consistent findings are emerging. Evidence is reviewed in relation to depression, antisocial behavior, schizophrenia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Although findings from various research designs have different meaning, interestingly much of the evidence with regard to the contribution of G × E that has arisen from twin and adoption studies has been for antisocial behavior and depression. It is for these same forms of psychopathology that molecular genetic evidence of G × E has also been most convincing. Finally, current and anticipated methodological challenges and implications for future research in this area are considered.

This study addressed the basis for the intergenerational transmission
of psychosocial risk associated with maternal childhood abuse in relation
to offspring adjustment. The study tested how far group differences in
individual change in adjustment over time were explained by differences in
exposure to specific environmental risk experiences. Data are drawn from
the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Information on
mothers' own experience of childhood abuse, offspring adjustment at
ages 4 and 7 years, and hypothesized mediators was available for 5,619
families. A residuals scores analysis was used to track children's
adjustment over time. Maternal childhood abuse was associated with poorer
behavioral trajectories between ages 4 and 7 years. Children of abused
mothers were more likely to experience a range of negative life events
between ages 4 and 7 years, including changes in family composition,
separations from parents, “shocks and frights” and physical
assaults. Interim life events, together with antecedent psychosocial risk
(maternal antenatal affective symptoms, age 4 parental hostility, age 4
family type) fully mediated the association between maternal childhood
abuse and offspring prognosis.The authors
express their gratitude to the families who participated in the study.
Support for these analyses was provided by a grant from the Medical
Research Council. The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
(ALSPAC) is part of the World Health Organisation initiated European Study
of Pregnancy and Childhood, and is supported, among others, by the
Wellcome Trust, The Department of Health, The Department of the
Environment, and the Medical Research Council. The ALSPAC study team
comprises interviewers, computer technicians, laboratory technicians,
clerical workers, research scientists, volunteers, and managers who
continue to make the study possible.

Longitudinal growth patterns of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were examined in a community sample of 441 children across the ages of 2 to 5 using hierarchical linear modeling. Contextual risk was measured using five indicators (socioeconomic status, marital status, number of siblings, parent stress, parent psychopathology), and three levels of child resilience (biological, behavioral, and relational) were also assessed. Results indicate that a general pattern of decline in both types of behavior problems was observed for the entire sample across time, although considerable individual variability in this pattern was observed. Children's externalizing and internalizing behavior at age 5 was predicted by the level of risk at age 2. All three child resilience factors were also predictive of externalizing and internalizing behaviors at age 5. In the prediction of the slope of problem behavior over time, risk status interacted with both temperamental fearlessness and a mutually responsive orientation with the mother to predict the decline in externalizing and internalizing problem behavior. Results underscore the complex interactions of risk and multiple levels of resilience that are implicated in the maintenance of problem behavior over time. They highlight the importance of considering whether expected resilience factors operate similarly across different levels of risk.

The rapidly moving study of Gene × Environment interaction (G × E) needs interim conceptual tools to track progress, integrate findings, and apply this knowledge to preventive intervention. We define two closely related concepts: the social mediation of the expression of genetic influences and the interaction between the entire genotype and the social environment (G × E). G × E, the primary focus of this report, assesses individual differences in the full genotype using twin, sibling, and adoption designs and, for the most part, employs fine-grained analyses of relational processes in the social environment. In comparison, studies of Allele × Environment interaction assess the influence on development of one or more measured polymorphisms as modified by environmental factors. G × E studies build on work showing how the social environment responds to genetic influences and how genetic influences shape the social environment. Recent G × E research has yielded new insight into variations in the sensitivity of the social environment to genotypic influences and provides clues to the specificity and timing of these environmental responses that can be leveraged to inform preventive interventions aimed at reducing genetic risk for problem behavior.

The purpose of the study was to examine the zero-order and unique
relations of effortful attentional and behavioral regulation, reactive
impulsivity, and anger/frustration to Chinese first and second
graders' internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as the
prediction of adjustment from the interaction of anger/frustration and
effortful control or impulsivity. A parent and teacher reported on
children's anger/frustration, effortful control, and impulsivity.
Parents reported on children's internalizing symptoms, and teachers
and peers reported on children's externalizing symptoms. Children
were classified as relatively high on externalizing (or comorbid),
internalizing, or nondisordered. High impulsivity and teacher-reported
anger/frustration, and low effortful control, were associated with
externalizing problems, whereas low effortful control and high
parent-reported anger were predictive of internalizing problems. Unique
prediction from effortful and reactive control was obtained and these
predictors (especially when reported by teachers) often interacted with
anger/frustration when predicting problem behavior classification.This research was supported by a grant from the
National Institutes of Mental Health (2 R01 MH60838) to Nancy Eisenberg
and an Earmarked Research Grant (CUHK4620/05H) of the Research Grants
Council, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, to Lei
Chang.

Two paradigms were developed to examine autobiographical memory (ABM)
and suggestibility in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Children with ASD (N = 30) and typically developing chronological
age-matched children (N = 38) ranging in age from 5 to 10 years
were administered an ABM questionnaire. Children were asked about details
of current and past personally experienced events. Children also
participated in a staged event, and later were provided with true and
false reminders about that event. Later, children again were interviewed
about the staged event. The results from both paradigms revealed that
children with ASD showed poorer ABM compared to controls. Generally, their
ABM was marked by errors of omission rather than by errors of commission,
and memory was particularly poor for early-life events. In addition, they
were as suggestible as the typically developing children. The results are
discussed in terms of applied and theoretical implications.This project was supported by a grant from
National Institutes of Health (RO1 HD39282) to M.B. Thanks to the many
children, parents, teachers, and school staff who took time and interest
in participating in this study. The assistance of Kendra Tannenbaum,
Jennifer Betkowski, Katie Whittaker, and Liz Marave is greatly
appreciated.